What Colleges Can Learn From Big Data

Big data is a big deal in business. However, the analytical process is also making its way onto college campuses, carrying the possibility of improving student performance, recruitment, and institutional efficiency.

Big data is the analysis of the huge amounts of information collected and stored by computers in the course of everyday life. The approach centers on efficiently aggregating and correlating massive volumes of data to spot recurring behavior patterns, with an emphasis on identifying emerging trends rather than simply cataloging the status quo.

For businesses, this can mean identifying which customers are the most profitable, or which products are poised to experience a surge in demand. For colleges and universities, the possibilities of big data have only just begun to be explored, but they could help shape the future academic guidance of students and the budget allocations of institutions.